The teacher uses understanding of individual differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards.

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ARTIFACT 1

Name of Artifact: Lesson plan for diverse learning styles

Course: WL 561: Teaching Second Languages - Theory into Practice

Date: Fall, 2021

ACTFL World-Readiness Standards Addressed: Interpersonal Communication, Interpretive Communication

 

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RATIONALE

The artifact I have chosen to demonstrate my understanding of individual learning differences as well as my ability to create instructional plans to meet diverse learner needs is a differentiated backward-designed lesson using the PACE model to teach French adjective placement. The main objective of the lesson was to help students understand when to place adjectives before or after the noun. I designed the lesson in three phases beginning with a story that I read to the whole class which contained frequent uses of adjectives placed in different positions. Before designing the second and third phases of the lesson, I had to take into consideration the various learning styles of individual students in the class. Although this was an assignment, I based my lesson planning on the diverse learning styles of my current high school French class. Subsequently, I developed an overall learning plan, performance tasks and quizzes that met the three predominant learning styles present within my class: 1) Detailed/Analytical, 2) Visual, and 3) Interactive. After the reading of the story in phase 1, students break into one of three groups according to their learning style where they engage in activities that were designed specifically for their group.

 

This artifact is placed in this standard because it shows my understanding of different learning styles and how they affect the learner experience. It shows that I understand how to adapt and create lesson plans, activities and assessments to meet the diverse needs of my learners and to ensure that the overall learning environment is an inclusive one that promotes the goal of each student meeting high standards. It’s also important to note that different learning styles could be present with a different group of students, which would therefore require differently designed activities to meet these needs.

 

At the beginning of my MATL experience, I was not aware of the degree of diversity in learner differences, nor their importance in the second language acquisition process. However, the essential importance of learner differences has been one of the most significant recurring themes throughout the MATL program. Learning styles are cognitive, affective and physiological traits that determine how a learner interacts with an environment and processes information (Dornyei & Skehan, 2003; as cited in Brown, 2014). Furthermore, although learners have a predisposition to one of the main learning styles, it’s important to understand that different contexts can evoke the use of a different learning style within the same individual (Brown, 2014). Since learning of this, I have paid more attention to how the learning styles of my students shift depending on the manner and context in which they receive input. I have also learned to become more aware of the role of multiple intelligences, in particular, of how learners possess all nine types of intelligences but have some that are more developed than others (Shrum & Glisan, 2016).

 

Becoming more aware of the importance of learner differences to the second language acquisition process has been one of my major insights from the MATL experience. As I continue my journey in teaching French language and culture, I plan to further develop my understanding of other individual differences, not just learning styles, but a range of differences that also impact second language acquisition. Among these would be socio-cultural differences, the needs of heritage learners, of gifted students and of challenged students. Finally, I plan on developing an understanding of what learning strategies are best suited to different learning styles so that individual learners can take more ownership and responsibility of their own learning journey.

 

References

Brown, D. H. (2014). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Pearson Education. 

Shrum, J., & Glisan, E. (2016). Teacher’s Handbook – Contextualized Language Instruction. Cengage Learning.

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ARTIFACT 2

Name of Artifact: Essay on differences in L1 ability affecting L2 proficiency

Course: WL 664: Second Language Acquistion - Theory and Practice

Date: Spring, 2021

ACTFL World-Readiness Standards Addressed: Interpersonal Communication, Interpretive Communication Presneational Communication, Making Connections

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RATIONALE

The multiplicity of individual differences that exists within a group of learners is one of the most important elements influencing the design of lesson plans for second language acquisition. I have developed a deep understanding of the critical nature of individual learner differences during my MATL experience, and in particular, how they pertain to individual learning styles. There is a great amount of diversity among students in the way they learn, the way they function intellectually, their preferences and tendencies for reacting to their environments and processing information (Brown 2014). One of my key insights during the MATL coursework has been the development of my understanding of these differences and a growing awareness of the importance of designing lesson plans that account for diverse learner needs.

 

Another aspect of individual differences, other than learning style, is aptitude: the variables, knowledge and skills that learners bring to the table in the second language classroom, like risk-taking behavior, tolerance for ambiguity, memory efficiency and willingness to communicate (Brown, 2014). In addition to these general aptitude characteristics, individual learners can come to the second language classroom with differences in their language specific aptitudes such as grammatical sensitivity and the ability to induce and infer rules and patterns (Skehan, 1999; as cited in Gass et al., 2020).

 

The artifact I have included in this Standard is an essay I wrote regarding research on crosslinguistic transfer of L1 ability to L2 achievement. This artifact demonstrates my insight and understanding of individual learner differences and the impact they can have on the second language learning process. Furthermore, the artifact also demonstrates my understanding of the importance of digging deeper to understand the differences in learners, and in this case, seeking to understand what factors can account for some students progressing further than others in their L2 development when faced with a group of students appearing to be rather homogenous academically and in learning styles. There is a general assumption that because students can communicate effectively in their L1, that they have achieved a similar proficiency in their L1. This is far from true, however. There can be a great deal of difference between students in their L1 skill level and that ability to be able to use their L1 proficiently has a very significant impact on their L2 development (Sparks et al., 2019).

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I began teaching high school French at around the same time I started my MATL course work. Initially, I did not really take individual learner differences into account in planning my lessons, but rather, focused more on what I thought was the most effective way to teach a specific subject. As I progressed in the MATL program, I became much more aware of learner needs and how individual differences can impact the learning process. I began integrating differentiated lesson plans into my approach but then also began to reflect on why some students were having more success in their L2 development. This artifact highlights my understanding of how aptitudes learners bring to the table, and their L1 ability in particular, can impact the L2 learning process.

 

Going forward, I see two immediate courses of action to help learners that are not as developed in their L1 ability as their classmates. The first would be to teach L1 techniques they could transfer to their L2, such as reading skills (how to identify the main idea and key concepts, asking questions, visualization, using context to derive meaning). The second would be to collaborate with teachers from other subjects in order to create a multi-disciplinary approach to helping these learners.

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References

Brown, D. H. (2014). Principles of language learning and teaching – A course is second language acquisition. 

     Pearson.

Gass, M. G., Behney, J., & Plonsky, L. (2020). Second Language Acquisition – An introductory course. Routledge

Sparks, R., Patton, J., & Luebbers J. (2019). Individual differences in L2 achievement mirror individual differences in L1 skills     

     and L2 aptitude: Crosslinguistic transfer of L1 to L2 skills.  Foreign Language Anals, 52(2), 255–283.

      https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12390

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